Whether you are a student, work for a corporation, or own your business, printing documents and images are essential to your work.
What if these printers suddenly stop working? Yeah, we know. It will delay the assignments and presentations.
This article will explain to you the various fixes that you can employ to get yourself rid of this seemingly complicated problem in a few minutes.
What is a Printer Driver?
A printer driver is a small program installed on your PC that communicates between your computer and printer.
It is a bridge between the computer and printer to allow your computer to understand the details and hardware specifications of the printer.
It translates the data we send for printing into signals that the printer can understand using its unique driver.
Requirements Before Troubleshooting
Before you proceed to resolve the printer driver is an unavailable error, two requirements will make the troubleshooting process a lot quicker and smoother.
First Requirement – Change UAC Settings
The User Account Control (UAC) should be configured beforehand so that they don’t stop you from updating the system or making any system changes.
Step 1. You must log in as an Administrator.
Step 2. Click on User Accounts in the Control panel and then go to change user Account Control Settings.
Step 3. Move the slider to the third level where it labels “Notify me only when apps try to make changes to my computer (default)” along with “Recommended if you use familiar apps and visit familiar websites.
Step 4. Click Ok in the window and then click Yes in the permission window.
Second Requirement – Complete Admin Account Verification
By completing your admin account verification, you will verify your identity as an Administrator and prevent your computer from illegal access.
Step 1. Login as Administrator and navigate to the Control Panel.
Step 2. Navigate to user Accounts and then go to Make changes to my account.
Step 3. Click on verify and then when it asks, “How would you like to get this code?”, choose your email address.
Step 4. Copy and paste the code sent on your email and then click Next.
Whether you have a Hp or Epson printer, the driver is unavailable error will occur if incompatibility exists.
Solution 1: Troubleshooting Printer
Before going forward with any fixes, first, troubleshoot the printer.
Step 1. Open the Control Panel and search for the “troubleshooting” option.
Step 2. Open the troubleshooter and search for the “Hardware & sound” option.
Step 3. Choose your printer, e.g., Epson printer driver, and begin troubleshooting.
Step 4. Follow the steps to fix the problem.
Solution 2: Uninstalling the Printer
Try to uninstall the printer and all related software and then reinstall it on your computer.
Step 1. In the control panel, navigate to devices and printers to see the list of printers connected to the system.
Step 2. Double click on the problematic device and select “remove device.”
Step 3. Press Windows + R keys and type “devmgmt.msc,” and press enter. Go to “Print queues,” right-click on your printer model, and click “Uninstall device.”
Step 4. Press Windows + R keys and type “appwiz.cpl” in the dialogue box. From the listed applications, select your printer and right-click on it. Click on “Uninstall.”
Step 5. Now disconnect your printer and shut down the computer. After 10 minutes, re-plugin the printer modules and wait for the device to be detected. Now reinstall the current driver.
Step 6. In the control panel, right-click on your printer inside the devices and printer menu and select “Set as default printer.”
Solution 3: Reinstalling Latest drivers
You have two methods to reinstall the right driver. You can either do it manually or automatically.
1. Manually Update Your Printer Drivers
Step 1. In the control panel, navigate to the device manager.
Step 2. In the “Device Manager” window, find the printer for which you wish to install drivers.
Step 3. Right-click on the printer and choose “Update Driver Software” from the drop-down list.
Step 4. In the dialogue box, select, “Search automatically for updated driver software.” If you have downloaded the browser already, select “Browse my computer for driver software” for manual installation.
2. Automatically Update Your Printer Drivers using utility tools
Manually searching for a printer can be a waste of time, but the software could include malicious items that damage our PC or printer.
Driver Support is software that can help you resolve the error by downloading and installing new driver updates and scanning your PC for any additional problems affecting its performance.
Other driver utility tools such as DriverFix Utility can also be used to resolve this error by scanning your PC for outdated drivers and updating them.
These tools are for printer drivers and can be used to download and update all the drivers on your Windows PC.
Solution 4: Installing Generic Printer driver
It could be possible that your printer isn’t recognized and is stuck as an unknown device in the system.
Step 1. Press Windows + X keys and click on “Device Manager.”
Step 2. Inside the device manager, try to locate your printer. Search inside the “Unknown Devices” category if you can’t find it.
Step 3. Right-click on the printer and choose “Update Driver.”
Step 4. Click on “Browse my computer for drivers” in the dialogue box.
Step 5. Opt “Let me pick from the list of available drivers” and then select “Generic Software Device.”
Step 6. Click Next and then restart your computer.
Solution 5: Update your Windows OS
The Windows 10 operating system you have might not be updated.
Step 1. Navigate to the Start menu and then type “Update” in the search bar.
Step 2. Click on Check for available Windows Updates to open Update settings.
Step 3. Windows will install any Windows updates automatically.
Step 4. Once the update finishes, restart your PC and try to print something.
Solution 6: Exclusive for Plug-and-Play Printer
In case you are using a plug-and-play printer, then this fix is for you.
Step 1. Unplug your printer from your computer, including all the cords and cables.
Step 2. Connect everything and complete the setup wizard.
Step 3. If the wizard doesn’t come automatically, click on the Start button and then go to Settings. Click devices -> Add a Printer or Scanner.
Step 4. Once Windows detects the device, complete the setup.
Conclusion
The printer faces many issues, ranging from paper getting stuck, unclear printing, or blotching, to more technical errors such as the printer driver being unavailable.
The printer driver unavailable problem occurs when we have an incompatible driver or the printer drivers are not working properly.
Do not fret. You don’t have to have much technical know-how or need a tech specialist to resolve this problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can install or update the printer’s driver or perform windows update to fix the printer driver is an unavailable error.
How do I make my printer driver available?
Driver unavailable error occurs when the driver is outdated or corrupt. To fix it, you can perform a windows update or update the printer driver manually or automatically.
The printer faces many issues, ranging from paper getting stuck, unclear, or blotched print, to more technical errors such as printer driver is unavailable errors.
The printer driver is not available error occurs when the driver in your printer and computer are incompatible or outdated.
Solution 1: Uninstall the Printer
Solution 2: Install Latest driver – manually or automatically
Solution 3: Install Generic Printer driver
Solution 4: Update your Windows OS
